Wringer and driving apparatus for a washing machine



Jan. 14, 19 41. R. J. ANDERSON WRINGER AND DRIVING APPARATUS FOR A WAS HING MCHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1936 Jan. 14,1941. 7 ANDERSON 2,228,238

WRINGER AND DRIVING APPARATUS FOR A WASHING MACHINE Filed Feb. 24, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elam/amp Patented .Jan. 14, 1941 UNITED STATES WRINGER AND DRIVING APPARATUS FOR A WASHING MACHINE Robert J. Anderson, Sidney, Ohio Application February 24, 1936, Serial No. 65,318

Claims.

This invention relates to a wringer and driving apparatus for a washing machine.

One object of the invention is to provide a I combined wringer and driving apparatus which may be connected or disconnected to drive the wringer or not, and which may be mounted upon andremoved from a washing machine as a unit and connected or disconnected at will to a drive shaft upon the washing machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wringer and driving means therefor mountable upon a washing machine and operable to drive the rolls of a wringer in one direction only.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wringer and driving means and novel means for simultaneously pressing together the rolls of the wringer and connecting one of the rolls with the driving means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a.

wringer having rolls so arranged as to minimize the danger of the hand of the operator being caught in the rolls. I

Another object of the invention is to provide a wringer having a roll which will automatically strip the wrung cloth from the roll.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wringer having laminated rolls so arranged as to automatically provide for the proper wringing of.

different thicknesses of fabric without relative movement of the axes of the rolls.

Other details and objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of one form of apparatus embodying the invention,

par-ts being broken away and parts in section;-

1; Fig. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic sectional view of the rolls of a wringer illustrating the movement of fabric therethrough; Fig. 7 is'an enlarged elevation of the upper roll; Fig. 8 is a section approximately along the line 8-4 of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 isa detail section approximately along the line 9-4 of Fig. 8; Figs. 10 and 11 are end views of the rollers illustrating the action of the rollers with fabric of different thicknesses.

In the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 1, there is a washing machine tub having at one side .thereof a bearing 2| 1 in which there is mounted drive shaft 22. A casing 23 is adapted to be mounted upon the upper end of bearing 2| and has a sleeve 24 fitting within that bearing and a drive coupling 25 adapted to slip over and mesh with the toothed upper end of shaft-22.

The upper side of bearing 2| is provided with a series of sockets 25. A vertically movable member 21 within'casing 23 carries a. pin 23 which may be moved into any one of sockets 26 with which it is in register and thus secure the casing 23 against rotational movement upon bearing 2|. Slide 21 is normally pressed down by a spring 28'. A handle 30 is mounted upon arod 3| to which there is secured a lug 32 adapted to engage slide 21 and raise the slide so as to free the casing for rotational movement upon hearing 2| when handle 30 is moved to the left, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 4. I

Rod 3| also carries a lug-33 which is adapted to engage a collar 34 on coupling member 25. When handle 30 is moved to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4, collar 34 is raised and teeth 35 on the upper side thereof engage coupling member 36 upon shaft 31. Shaft ,31 is mounted in suitable bearings, and has amxed thereto a bevel gear 38 and a spur gear 39. Gear 39 meshes with a pinion 40 fast with a bevelgear 4| which engages ear 42 on the shaft 43 of a suitable motor 44. During the operation of the machine, motor 44 will be energized and shaft 38 will be driven constantly.

It will be readily seen that movement of handle 30 to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4, connects the motor with the drive shaft of the washing machine, while movement of the handle to' its vertical position disconnects the motor from the drive shaft of the washing machine. Further movement of the handle 30 to the left raises slide 21 and releases the casing so that it may be rotated to place the wringer in desired position.

The wringer comprises a lower roll and an upper roll 5| Roll 50 is mounted upon trunnions 53 provided with ball bearing 54 which are verti-, cally slidable in guideways 55 in casing 23. In each guideway 55 below bearing 53, there is a roller 56 which rests upon a cam 51. Both cams '51 are pivoted to shaft 58 which has attached thereto an operating handle 5!. Cam 5'! is provided with a recess relatively near its pivot 53. When roller 56 rests in recess GIL'bearin'g 53 is' allowed to descend far enough so that roller 50 is out of contact with roller 5|. On the end of one of the trunnions 53, there is a bevel gear 6|. When handle 59 is raised, it oscillates cam 51 so as to insert socket 62 beneath roller 56, raising roller 56 during this movement so that bearing 53 is raised in turn, which lifts roller 5|] into contactwith roller 5| and likewise lifts gear 6| into mesh with gear 38, whereupon the roller is driven and in turn drives roller 5|, so as to wring any fabric that is presented to the rollers.

Roller 5| is mounted upon trunnions 65 in bearings 66 arranged in recesses 61 in a slide 68 which is movable vertically in guideway 55. Each bearing 66 rests upon a supporting block 69 through which there passes an eccentric cam 10 operable by a positioning handle Preferably handle H is held against the face of the ,casing 23 by a spring means, not shown, and when moved enters in succession notches 12, whereby the two ends of the roller 5| may be positioned exactly the same and at the exact distance desired from the axis of roller 50 when that roller is raised.

As shown in the sectional views, the lower roller is provided with a central shaft i5 around which there is a layer of relatively soft rubber 16 which in turn is surrounded by a layer of relatively hard rubber 11 within the exterior layer 18 of soft rubber. In a similar manner, roller 5| is comprised of a central shaft 19, an inner soft rubber layer 80, a hard rubber layer 8|, and an exterior soft rubber layer 82.

In the upper roller, there are shown a plurality of depressions 83. These depressions are less in depth than the normal compression of the roll even when wringing the lightest fabrics, so that during the pressing of the two rolls together inwringing operation, the wringing surface of roller 5| is substantially cylindrical, but immediately as the surface leaves the bite, the resiliency of the rubber returns the surface to its normal shape and thereby the fabric is pushed away from the bottom of the depressions 83, which loosens the fabric fromthe roller and prevents the fabric from being carried around with the roller by suction between the fabric and the surface of the roller. This eliminates difficulty from the winding of the fabric about the roller.

In the preferred form illustrated, the lower roller 50 is'larger in diameter than the upper the operator, in feeding fabric to the wringer, will encounter the surface of the lower roller 50 before reaching the bite between the rollers, thereby substantially eliminating danger of the hand being caught in the wringer.

Another advantage of having the lower roller larger than the upper roller is the resulting tendency for the fabric to-curve upward rather than downward as it leaves the bite of the rollers. This substantially eliminates danger of the fabric clinging to the surface of the lower roller and following it around. The action of gravity lessens the danger of the fabric clinging to the surface of the upper roller and aids in the separation of the fabric from that surface by the action resulting from depressions 83, as described above. Accordingly, with the arrangement described, danger of the fabric winding up about the rollers is so far eliminated that there is no necessity for providing means for reversing the direction of the rollers. It will be readily understood that, by properly positioning the wringer by swinging movement on bearing 2| thereby placing the washing machine in the proper position relative to the wringer, the desired wringing action may be accomplished with .the fabric moved in the desired direction without requiring the reversal of the direction of rotation of the rollers. This greatly simplifies the driving arrangements and 1 makes more practicable the mounting of the driv- The construction of the rollers in laminated form, as described, is advantageous in producing desired automatic accommodation of different thicknesses of fabric. When a comparatively thin fabric 86 is being passed through the rollers-in the manner illustrated in Fig. 10, the deformation is almost entirely in the outer layers 18' and 82 of soft rubber, the relatively hard rubber layers l1 and 8| preserving substantially their cylindrical form. This results in a wringin action upon the thin fabric similar to that which would be obtained with a much harder roller so far as squeezing effect is concerned, but still with the soft rubber only in direct contact with the fabric.

When a comparatively thick fabric 81 is being passed through the rollers in the manner indicated in Fig. 11, not only is the soft rubber in outer layers 18 and 82 compressed, but this compression is passed onward throughrelatively hard layers 11 and 8| to the interior soft rubber layers 'IB and 80, as illustrated somewhat diagrammatically in Fig. ll, Thus the roller responds auto- 0 of fabric without having any spring mounting for the rollers.

The center of gravity of the motor is on the opposite side of the axis of bearing 2| from the wringer casing, and reduces the tipping effect that the wringer exerts upon the washing machine when the wringer is swung outward. The construction of the wringer so that danger of fabric winding around the rolls is eliminated, with consequent elimination of the necessity for reversing the direction of driving the rolls, simplifies the mechanical connections. This, with other mechanical improvements makes much -more Y practicable the mounting of the driving means on the wringer frame. By the, construction shown, very simple connections are provided.

The parts of a washing machine mostly likely to require repair are the wringer and the driving connections.

With the construction shown, the wringer and power plant may be lifted off of the washing machine and taken to a repair shop, leaving the bulky washing machine in place.

The drive shaft of the washing machine may be connected by any suitable means with any part of the machine that is driven to effect the washing.

The design of roller surface shown for the upper'roller has been found very satisfactory, It

has been found'iadvantageous to elongate the de-' the fundamental idea being the use of an uneven surface which is rendered substantially smooth by pressure during wringing, but which is returned by its resiliency to its original condition when the pressure is removed, and thereby strips fabric from the surface of the roll. Such an uneven surface might be employed upon both rolls, but this is found to be unnecessary where the under roller is larger than the upper roller, or of softer material, as in either case the fabric is given a sufhcient upward tendency as it leaves the bite of the rolls to keep it from clinging to the lower roll.

Only one layer of relatively hard rubber is shown, but more layers may be employed if desired, and other relatively stiff material may be employed in place of the relatively hard rubber, the degree of resistance of the stiff lamination depending upon the exact efiect desired. Changes may be made in the design and in the materials while retaining the advantage of successive lamination of yielding material having interposed relatively stiff layers whereby the yielding laminations are brought into operation successively as thicker fabrics are being wrung.

Other obvious modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

14% wringer comprising two rolls, one larger than the other, and the smaller rollhaving an uneven surface caused by a series of depressions extending inwardly from the face of the roll with the depressions so proportioned to the resiliency of the material that the surface is pressed substantially smooth during normal wringing operation, but returns to its uneven condition when relieved of wringing pressure. I

2. A wringer roll comprisinga plurality of layers of relatively soft material with an interposed material stiffer than said soft material, one layer of said relatively soft material forming the outer layer of the roll.

3. A wringer roll made of concentrical laminations and having a relatively hard rubber lamination interposed between laminations of rubber softer than said hard rubber lamination.

4. A washing machine comprising a vertical drive shaft, a wringer casing mounted for rotation about the axis of said shaft, a motor mounted upon said casing, a vertical driving shaft driven by said motor and having a bevel gear thereon.

wringer rolls mounted in said casing, means to raise and lower one of said rolls, and a gear on said movable roll meshing with said' bevel gear when said movable roll is moved to bring'the rolls together,

5. A washing machine in accordance with claim 4 and in which the movable roll is the lower roll.

ing and actuating a vertical drive shaft, a clutch for connecting said vertical shaft and said washing machine shaft, means to lock the casing against rotation about the axis of said'bearing, a single handle operable in one direction to close said clutch and in another direction to release said locking means, wringer rolls mounted in the casing, means for raising and lowering the lower roll to bring into or out of wringing relation with the upper roll, means driving the lower roll from said vertical drive shaft when raised, and means for fine adjustment of the vertical position of the upper roll to determine wringing pressure.

7. A wringer roll having an uneven surface caused by a series of depressions with the depressions so proportioned to the resiliency of the material that the surface is pressed substantially smooth during normal wringing operation, but returns to its uneven condition when. relieved of wringing pressure.

8. A wringer roll having an uneven surface with the irregularities of the surfaceso proportioned to the resiliency of the material that the surface is pressed substantially smooth during normal wringing operation, but returns to its uneven condition when relieved of wringing pressure, the uneven surface being caused by a series of depressions elongated circumferentially of the roll.

9. A wringer roll having an uneven surface with the irregularities of the surface so proportioned to the resiliency of the material that the surface is pressed substantially smooth during normal wringing operation, but returns to its um i even condition when relieved of wringing pressure, the uneven surface-being caused by a series of depressions elongated circumferentlally of the roll and having their ends in close juxtaposition.

10. A wringer comprising a pair of cooperating rolls adapted to automatically provide for ear-- eient wringing of different thicknesses of fabric by deformation ofsaidrolls, each of said rolls embracing a plurality of layers of relatively soft rubber with a material stiffer than said soft rubber interposed intermediate said layers of soft rubber, one of said layers of soft rubber forming the outer surface of each roll.

ROBERT J. ANDERSON, 

